Gang violence in the US

[CapnAwesome]

A few years ago, I was living in the "worst part" of town, which no one actually thought of as bad, but some elements moved in temporarily and brought gang violence with them. One afternoon, I wasn't able to get to my front door because there had been a fatal stabbing right outside my house, then, a couple of weeks later, three kids were shot down in an initiation, and then a guy, in another initiation, was stabbed outside of a pretty decent local bar. Then, a good friend and neighbor was attacked by a couple of thugs, one of whom, with a skateboard, smashed the windshield of the car of my at-the-time boyfriend during the scuffle.

I remember scouring the local news, looking for any extra information outside of rumors and gossip around the neighborhood, to no avail, and then all of a sudden, as quickly as it began, the violence stopped. Apparently, the scary gang members had been kicked out of the house they were renting- but I only learned that information from the rumor mill; not the press. So strange.

I've also lived in neighborhoods with gangs, I've seen things that if they happened in middle class white neighborhoods would be all over the local news. Are people desensitized or is it a subtle form of racism/classism?